Temple convinces La Salle council to continue with alley repavement

A representative from Temple B’Nai Moshe spoke convinced the city of La Salle to resurface nearby alleyways instead of resurfacing another roadway.

According to the Streets, Alleys and Traffic Committee agenda, a proposal was brought forward Monday to resurface a portion of Wright Street and north of Fourth Street up the alley instead of the originally planned alleys between Fourth, Fifth, Marquette and Gooding streets.

According to Scott Shore, at the temple, the alleyway work could help the temple alleviate some of the ongoing building problems, such as water damage. Shore mentioned the building continues to receive water damage after even the smallest of rainfalls.

“The temple has had significant water damage along the north wall along the alley,” Shore said. “We had so much water coming in from the alley that it rotted out the basement north wall in the social hall.”

Shore said the temple has continually made improvements and allocated funds in an attempt to fix the issues but with little success.

“The alley itself slopes towards the Temple,” Shore said. “It was sloping right to the wall and now it’s sloping to the curb, but the water finds its way.”

The organization removed the north wall and replaced it with a cement board to stop further water seepage. The temple also replaced the roof guttering and performed a complete tuck point of the building.

Additional cement work was completed around the outside of the temple to try to stop the water from finding its way in.

Shore said the temple also looked into any kind of underground leakage that may be causing the issues but none were found.

Over the past three years the temple has paid more than $30,000 in funds to try to fix the water issues that may be helped with the resurfacing of the adjacent alleyway.

“We just don’t have that kind of income anymore to try and sustain this,” Shore said. “So we are literally going down the drain unless we find a solution to this seepage that continues to plague us.”

The idea of reallocating the funds was brought forth by Alderman Jim Bacidore in an effort to repave a section of road to make it safer for children walking to school. After hearing Shore’s concerns, Bacidore was in favor of moving forward with the original plans.

While no one is certain this alleyway resurfacing will completely fix the issue, Shore said the organization has attempted everything on its end.

“This is our last possibility,” Shore said. “We’ve done everything we could from the inside, from the outside, from above we have done everything we possibly could. Now we’re asking the city to step up and help us to the extent they can.”

A motion was made not to reallocate the funds and to continue with the plans to resurface the alley between Fourth, Fifth, Marquette and Gooding streets. The motion passed unanimously.

In other matters, the council:

• Approved a request from Christie Pasieka to utilize the city-owned lot of 540 First St. for an outdoor artisan market from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 28 and Saturday, Sept. 24.
• Approved the purchase of a heavy duty four-inch trailered trash pump for use by the public works department during water main leaks and breaks.
• Approved the La Salle Police Department to hire a candidate for the position of patrolman from the patrolman eligibility list per the recommendation of the police and fire commissioners.